Forestry and Timber

The UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry (COFFI), formerly known as Timber Committee, provides member countries, with information and services that feed into their policy and decision-making process as regards their forest and forest industry sector, including the trade and use of forest products. The following standardization activities have been carried out by the Committee to facilitate international trade of forest products.

Rovaniemi Action Plan for the Forest Sector in a Green Economy, adopted by COFFI in Rovaniemi, Finland in 2013.

The UNECE recommended standard on Stress Grading (amendment of the 1982 standard) and Finger Jointing of Coniferous Sawn Timber, done at Geneva, October 1988; (this standard was submitted to ISO TC 165, Timber Structures, and partially adopted as an ISO standard).

General Conditions for the Export and Import of Hardwood Logs and Sawn Hardwood from the Temperate Zone, done at Geneva, November 1961.

General Conditions for Export and Import of Sawn Softwood, done at Geneva, October 1956.

The COFFI, with its partners in FAO and other organizations, plays a major role in harmonizing the terminology used for analysis and statistics worldwide. For instance, the terminologies and classifications developed by UNECE (in cooperation with others) on forest products and the forest resource are used in practically all international analyses of developments, and are drawn on by international multisectoral classifications.